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I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting - M. Twain

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PA - Joy Hayward, 28, Chester, 12 February 2004

Joy Hayward was 28 yrs old when she was murdered. She had been staying with her boyfriend at his co-workers house when they got into a big fight. Joy left, took her cell phone and her boyfriends (Mike) with her and checked into Day's Inn. After checking in she left and was not seen again until 90 minutes later when she returned. It is not known where she went during those 90 minutes. THe hotel clerk said he say a black male follow her into the elevator. A short time later the clerk gets a call from Joy who says that she has a situation and needs help then the line went dead. Unbelievably the clerk did not do anything and Joy's body was found 12 hours later in her bathtub. She had been strangled to death.

Joy's cell phone was missing as was her boyfriend's. Joy's sister called the cell phone and a man answered then shortly hung up.

DNA from the scene is from a black male.

Her family is desperatly trying to find out who killed Joy and in a story we have heard all to often do not seem to be getting a whole lot of support from LE.

I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting - M. Twain

Join Date

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Location

New York City

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I have read a couple cases before of women killed in their hotel room's by hotel employees because all of the maintenance employee's had keys to every single room. That scares the crap out of me. You think you are safe in your room but really there are like 10 people who have keys to get in whenever they wants.
In one case the guy had just gotten out of prison and was a sex offender but the hotel (which I think was actually a Day's Inn) didn't do a background check and just forked over keys to every room in the hotel. It wasn't long before he raped and murdered a young woman.

I wonder how closely LE looked into that possibility.

'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated'--Ghandi

CHESTER — Five years after Joy Patricia Hayward was found murdered in a hotel room in Chester, her mother still holds out hope that her killer will be found.

“It must have taken between six months to a year to get over the fact that she wasn’t going to walk in that door anymore,” said Claire Hayward, a retired teacher, from her home in Annapolis, Md.

Joy Hayward lived with her mother in Annapolis. Her father, Howard, died of cancer in 2002.

The 29-year-old, whose nickname was “Joyful,” was working as a nanny while studying for a second bachelor’s degree when she was murdered. She loved children and had planned to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a teacher.

An attractive brunette, she was last seen alive around 3 a.m. Feb. 12, 2004, in the lobby of the Days Inn on Edgmont Avenue.

She checked into the hotel, alone, around 1:38 a.m. A short time later, she was seen leaving the hotel. When she returned, around 3 a.m., it appeared as if she was accompanied by an unidentified, dark-skinned man. The two were seen getting into the hotel elevator together.

Around 4:30 p.m., a cleaning woman discovered Hayward’s body in the bathtub of her sixth-floor room. She had been asphyxiated.

“It seemed like somebody just pressed a pillow down to stop her from breathing,” Claire Hayward said. “I just can’t imagine that somebody would have hated her enough to do that.”

Investigators believe there may be a link between Hayward’s homicide and the rape of a 44-year-old Darby woman at nearby Deshong Park four months later. The physical descriptions of both men are “significantly similar,” authorities have said.

It was about 7 a.m. on June 22, when the Darby woman, waiting for a bus at Ninth and Upland streets, first spotted the suspect. He rode past her on a bicycle several times, causing her to become suspicious.

The man got off of his bicycle and approached the woman. Speaking with a Spanish or Jamaican accent, he told her he had a gun. He ordered the woman to walk westward on Ninth Street toward Deshong Park, forced her into a heavily wooded area behind the museum and raped her, according to investigators. He fled when several people walked by.

The rape victim described her attacker as a black man, between 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 8 inches tall. He has several gold teeth in the upper portion of his mouth, a dark complexion, slanted eyes and a light mustache and facial hair.

The victim told police her attacker appeared to be a drug user.

Authorities have noted that the composite of the rape suspect is nearly identical to that of the man seen with Hayward the night she was murdered.

Claire Hayward recently retired from teaching after 37 years. She has begun painting again, a hobby she put on the back burner while raising her family.

“I was grieving and in a daze,” she said. “I feel it’s finally lifting.”

But her daughter is never far from her thoughts.

“I finally got the nerve last week to ask for a copy of the autopsy,” she said. “It took that long.”

Claire Hayward said she tries not to burden people with her grief and has learned to keep busy.

“I can’t say I’m not strong, but I guess I’m not weak. I’ve survived,” she said.

A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Hayward’s murder. Investigators hope the reward, coupled with the composite of the rape suspect, will help solve both cases.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Delaware County Detective Michael Palmer at (610) 891-4704.

'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated'--Ghandi

"it appeared as if she was accompanied by an unidentified, dark-skinned man"

So, there was a camera. Why can't they use this to get a description of who they are looking for?

And again, she checked in at 1:30 AM. I would think she did not know the area or she would never have picked that hotel. There were much better choices not too far away. Where is she going at 1:30 AM in the morning??? To get something to eat? Around there? Where would you even go around there at that time? That's a dangerous area. Not much is open.

Joy (far right) appeared at her sister Grace's (third from left) October 2003 wedding four months before her death. With them is her mom Claire (left), Dorothy and sister Kathi.

Bowen warns women to be aware that when you are in a hotel or motel simply dialing 911 is not enough to get through; you must dial 9-911.

“If you are not familiar with an area you are visiting whether on vacation or travelling for work, make sure you are extra cautious,” said Bowen.

“The person who beat and raped and murdered my sister is still out there and still probably committing more crimes…Murder is not an accident. This was a deliberate vicious attack on such a wonderful woman,” said Bowen

After the heated argument she had with the boyfriend. Did she walk to the motel or drive there? I have not seen anywhere yet that tells she walked there or drove there after the fight. If she walked everything happened right around there, around the motel. If she was driving if could have been further out.

This is frightening. It's been over a decade and nothing? They have his DNA and if this is the bad area everyone is saying it is, this man has probably committed crimes since. He could even be in custody right now. Do they check that stuff when they incarcerate someone?

Is there any possibility that her boyfriend could have had her followed? I think that's a HUGE stretch but just throwing it out there.

Did they check the parking lot surveillance to see which direction she'd left to give hint to where she was in those 90 minutes. Was she being followed or did she invite this person into her room? Since she called from her room she was either followed and he forced entry into her room when she was opening the door or she invited him in. He also could have knocked on the door and caught her off guard. Or, as was previously mentioned, is there anyway he had access to the room keys? Did any black males work there or know the building (maybe a worker's boyfriend, son, etc). I can guarantee this isn't this man's only violent crime. He's done this before, this shouldn't be so difficult to figure out.

I would say she drove to the hotel. There is no way she was walking there. You just don't walk around that area in the middle of the night. You really don't walk around there in the day either. There is a hospital nearby down the street, and you are right near Chester, which is a dangerous area. Someone either broke into her room, or she mistakenly trusted someone. Again, I don't know why she would choose that hotel. You could go 5 minutes away and be in a much more safer area. There is not a lot around there open at night time. You are not far from Widener University. In 2004, I still worked there at the hospital, so I kindof knew what was going on in the day time. You really did not see people walking near there, well unless they were buying drugs nearby.